Toward Meaningful Action

AROUND THE COLLEGE | HIGHLIGHTS

Toward Meaningful Action

In July, amid a national reckoning on systemic racism and social justice issues, the College of IST endorsed a diversity resolution to recognize the unequal treatment of Black Americans and other marginalized groups.

Though largely symbolic, the resolution— found at ist.psu.edu/diversity-resolution— asserts the college’s commitment toward taking meaningful actions that integrate perspectives on these issues into its curriculum, research, and culture.

Moving forward, the college is taking a “build in, not bolt on” approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into all areas of its work, including its upcoming 2021-25 strategic plan. Three noteworthy initial efforts are leading this change.

First, the college eliminated the GRE score requirement on the graduate admission application. This charges the college’s admissions committee with a more holistic and comprehensive evaluation of each applicant that will increase the quality and diversity of candidates.

Second, the college revamped its undergraduate scholarship process. The new approach shows students earlier in their decision-making what financial support is available—including several new educational equity scholarships (pg. 29)—

and allows IST’s scholarship committee to conduct a more thoughtful review of students when considering awards.

Finally, the college is launching multiple open-rank, tenure-track faculty searches for candidates whose work advances any of IST’s four core research areas and who are also engaged in research addressing

“By looking more like the world, our people will be better prepared as employees, colleagues, and citizens.”

issues related to social justice, such as algorithmic bias or data ethics. These job announcements will also include the college’s new diversity, equity, and inclusion language. This language, which will now be included in all of the college’s vacancy postings, signifies to candidates the kind of community they will be joining and the attributes the college is seeking in its applicants.

According to Jason Gines, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion engagement,

this initial focus on recruiting a diverse community will help transform the academic and social dynamics of the college for minoritized and majoritized populations alike.

“Many in our community may never have been in a room with a number of people who are different from them,” said Gines. “In a more diverse community, everyone is exposed to something new, which can shift the culture and environment to more accurately reflect what they’ll see outside of IST. By looking more like the world, our people will be better prepared as employees, colleagues, and citizens.”

Further, Gines explained, this positions IST graduates and the companies that hire them to be more creative, produce better solutions more efficiently, and create stronger workplace engagement. It also strengthens the college’s partnership with organizations seeking to hire candidates with diverse skills and from underrepresented backgrounds, all while helping organizations improve their performance.

Ultimately, these efforts, many of which are being driven by the college’s Inclusion Diversity Action Council and ongoing faculty and staff inclusion strategy sessions, are designed to change the structural reality of the IST experience.

FRESHIDEA/STOCK.ADOBE.COM

6 iConnect Magazine